TY - JOUR T1 - Infection and mortality of healthcare workers worldwide from COVID-19: a systematic review JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003097 VL - 5 IS - 12 SP - e003097 AU - Soham Bandyopadhyay AU - Ronnie E Baticulon AU - Murtaza Kadhum AU - Muath Alser AU - Daniel K Ojuka AU - Yara Badereddin AU - Archith Kamath AU - Sai Arathi Parepalli AU - Grace Brown AU - Sara Iharchane AU - Sofia Gandino AU - Zara Markovic-Obiago AU - Samuel Scott AU - Emery Manirambona AU - Asif Machhada AU - Aditi Aggarwal AU - Lydia Benazaize AU - Mina Ibrahim AU - David Kim AU - Isabel Tol AU - Elliott H Taylor AU - Alexandra Knighton AU - Dorothy Bbaale AU - Duha Jasim AU - Heba Alghoul AU - Henna Reddy AU - Hibatullah Abuelgasim AU - Kirandeep Saini AU - Alicia Sigler AU - Leenah Abuelgasim AU - Mario Moran-Romero AU - Mary Kumarendran AU - Najlaa Abu Jamie AU - Omaima Ali AU - Raghav Sudarshan AU - Riley Dean AU - Rumi Kisyova AU - Sonam Kelzang AU - Sophie Roche AU - Tazin Ahsan AU - Yethrib Mohamed AU - Andile Maqhawe Dube AU - Grace Paida Gwini AU - Rashidah Gwokyala AU - Robin Brown AU - Mohammad Rabiul Karim Khan Papon AU - Zoe Li AU - Salvador Sun Ruzats AU - Somy Charuvila AU - Noel Peter AU - Khalil Khalidy AU - Nkosikhona Moyo AU - Osaid Alser AU - Arielis Solano AU - Eduardo Robles-Perez AU - Aiman Tariq AU - Mariam Gaddah AU - Spyros Kolovos AU - Faith C Muchemwa AU - Abdullah Saleh AU - Amanda Gosman AU - Rafael Pinedo-Villanueva AU - Anant Jani AU - Roba Khundkar Y1 - 2020/12/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/5/12/e003097.abstract N2 - Objectives To estimate COVID-19 infections and deaths in healthcare workers (HCWs) from a global perspective during the early phases of the pandemic.Design Systematic review.Methods Two parallel searches of academic bibliographic databases and grey literature were undertaken until 8 May 2020. Governments were also contacted for further information where possible. There were no restrictions on language, information sources used, publication status and types of sources of evidence. The AACODS checklist or the National Institutes of Health study quality assessment tools were used to appraise each source of evidence.Outcome measures Publication characteristics, country-specific data points, COVID-19-specific data, demographics of affected HCWs and public health measures employed.Results A total of 152 888 infections and 1413 deaths were reported. Infections were mainly in women (71.6%, n=14 058) and nurses (38.6%, n=10 706), but deaths were mainly in men (70.8%, n=550) and doctors (51.4%, n=525). Limited data suggested that general practitioners and mental health nurses were the highest risk specialities for deaths. There were 37.2 deaths reported per 100 infections for HCWs aged over 70 years. Europe had the highest absolute numbers of reported infections (119 628) and deaths (712), but the Eastern Mediterranean region had the highest number of reported deaths per 100 infections (5.7).Conclusions COVID-19 infections and deaths among HCWs follow that of the general population around the world. The reasons for gender and specialty differences require further exploration, as do the low rates reported in Africa and India. Although physicians working in certain specialities may be considered high risk due to exposure to oronasal secretions, the risk to other specialities must not be underestimated. Elderly HCWs may require assigning to less risky settings such as telemedicine or administrative positions. Our pragmatic approach provides general trends, and highlights the need for universal guidelines for testing and reporting of infections in HCWs. ER -